High expression of VTRNA2-1 in systemic lupus erythematosus patients' B lymphocytes and its significance

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the expression of vault ribonucleic acid 2-1 (VTRNA2-1) in T or B lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) from the perspective of epigenetic non-coding RNA, and to explore the preliminary pathogenesis of SLE.

METHODS

CD4⁺ T lymphocytes from peripheral blood in 25 healthy controls and 32 SLE patients, CD19⁺ B lymphocytes from peripheral blood in 62 SLE patients (47 patients were active SLE and 15 patients were inactive) and 29 healthy controls were collected, and the expression levels of VTRNA2-1 were detected by real-time PCR. Co-immunoprecipitation assay was used to explore the direct-acting proteins of VTRNA2-1.

RESULTS

Through the detection of VTRNA2-1 in peripheral blood T cells and B cells in the SLE patients and healthy controls, we have found that there was no significant difference in the expression of VTRNA2-1 in T cells between the SLE patients and the healthy controls (P>0.05). The expression of VTRNA2-1 in B cells in the active and inactive SLE patients was both higher than that in the healthy controls, with significant difference (P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). Co-immunoprecipitation assay confirmed that VTRNA2-1 exerted its biological function via specific binding with protein kinase R (PKR).

CONCLUSIONS

VTRNA2-1 is highly expressed in B cells in the SLE patients, which may play a biological role by regulating PKR.